Cinematical

I've seen a lot of DIY recuts in my time – the various versions of Star Wars: Episode 1 the populated the internet claiming to remove anything offensive to hardcore fans of the series, the Martin Arnold experimental films that make music out of a handful of frames of To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. – but nothing really comes close to the sheer impact of watching Nicholas Chatfield-Taylor's "Die Hardererer."

Composed of every frame that contains an image of fire throughout the entire tetralogy of Die Hard films, Chatfield-Taylor's 17-minute experimental film, which played at The Choice Film Showcase in Brooklyn on Monday night, is a gallery piece for a new generation. Despite the simple and hilarious concept, the film uses a purely visceral interaction with the audience to engage in a dialog about the structure and tone of these action films, cutting them down to the essence, as if written as a were a seventh-grade essay on the image of fire in all four books of the great novel Die Hard. The compilation produces a stunningly rich result, one that conveys the arc of the stories and the gratuitousness of the violence, as Chatfield-Taylor serves up a piece that will play well to both the New York City art snob and the fanboy in his basement in Wisconsin.

Though Die Hardererer is not available online yet, a collection of Nicholas Chatfield-Taylor's other work is available here. The Choice Film Showcase continues with a handful of other thought provoking works through today at the new multipurpose art space 303Grand in Brooklyn.

Update: The video is now online -- check it out below.


Die Hardererer (Bootleg Edition) by Nicholas Chatfield-Taylor from Nicholas Chatfield-Taylor on Vimeo.

After almost a month in limbo that left the film community eagerly awaiting the news of a replacement for Geoff Gilmore, Sundance Institute announced in a press release late last night that they are appointing John Cooper as the director of the Sundance Film Festival. According to a story in indieWIRE, Gilmore announced, much to the surprise of many industry professionals, last month that he would be leaving the fest after 19 years to take the position of Chief Creative Officer for Tribeca Enterprises.

Cooper, the former Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival and Director of Creative Development for the Sundance Institute, has pioneered several new initiatives for Sundance over the past few years including New Frontier on Main, Sundance at BAM, The Sundance Institute Art House Project and the distribution of Sundance shorts through various digital platforms like iTunes and XBOX.

In the press release, Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford is quoted as saying, "When we established the Festival, it was always with two goals in mind: supporting new artists and inspiring new audiences. Cooper has never lost sight of these goals. He brings to the position an infectious enthusiasm as well as a deep understanding of the Sundance brand and culture. Forward thinking, he is a natural choice of succession to lead the Festival into the 21st century."

As if we couldn't be any more excited about SXSW than we already are, a special event was added this morning that's gonna blow the hat off any film lover attending the conference. Under the Fantastic Fest at Midnight sidebar, a new section of the conference curated by the team from Austin's premiere genre festival Fantastic Fest, the brainchild of Alamo Drafthouse owner Tim League, SXSW will present a selection of footage (roughly 20 minutes or so) from Universal Pictures' hotly anticipated summer release Brüno, starring Sacha Baron Cohen. Coen's follow-up to the hit comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan centers on another of the characters he created for his HBO show, The Ali G Show, an Australian Austrian fashionista out to make it in America. The screening is free to anyone while there's still room, so get there early because I have a hunch there won't be an empty seat once the projector rolls.

For those who'll be in Austin, the screening will be held at 11pm at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar on Sunday, March 15.

It's no overstatement to say that one of the most anticipated movies of this year's SXSW Film Conference is Joe Swanberg's latest work, Alexander the Last. One of SXSW's more prolific veteran directors, Swanberg has built his status at the festival up to the point where a new piece from him is an event – even more so with Alexander, the centerpiece of IFC's controversial new SXSW partnership. IFC Films has been the distributor for Swanberg's last few pictures and has done much of the legwork to build his popularity throughout the indie community.

But it wasn't until last Friday night when I was attending an authentic fried chicken restaurant in New York City's Korea Town that I realized just how far Swanberg's popularity had stretched into the outside world. While using the rest room, I happened to spot a piece of graffiti on the wall above the urinal. See photo.



Yes, Joe, the implication is negative. But, like they always say, "If they hate you then you must be doing something right."

During the Q&A at the premiere of "Goodbye Solo" at MoMA last week, director Ramin Bahrani amiably joked about putting bootlegged DVDs in all of his movies to project his dream of one day seeing his work on one of those makeshift stands. "That's how I would know that I made it as a director." Somehow, I think this might be better.

Thanks to Dusty Smith for the photo.